On the Simulation of Acoustic Standing Waves for Microfluidic Applications with the Lattice Boltzmann Method

In recent years, the Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM) has been demonstrated as an interesting alternative for the simulation of complex fluid flows. Unlike finite elements models (FEM) based on a discretization of macroscopic continuum equations, the LBM is derived from microscopic models and mesoscopic kinetic equations [1]. As an increasing number of studies use acoustic standing waves for microfluidics applications [2], the LBM constitutes an efficient alternative to simulate complex interactions between fluid flows and acoustic waves. The main advantages include clear physical pictures, easy implementation of boundary conditions and a fully parallel algorithm. This paper shows results towards the implementation of LBM for the creation of acoustic standing waves in straight microchannels.